In today’s competitive market it’s essential for businesses to have a website. This is especially critical for small local businesses competing against big retail stores. Potential customers use the internet to look for services and products. It’s easier to visit a search engine like Google, type in a couple of keywords and find businesses they need, than digging up for that yellow pages book they store away somewhere and calling.

Many small businesses know they need to generate new business leads, how they decide to obtaining those leads is a different story. Some business owners advertise in local newspapers or yellow pages hoping to attract local customers, yet how many people read newspapers or yellow pages books compare to going online these days? Some use signage on their vehicles, yet how many are able to view the sign long enough to get the contact info. Others use old-fashion “word of mouth” approach, yet in today’s competitive market, it’s hard to stay in business using only this approach.

All of the above practices can help generate some new business, but can you really target specific groups? You know the people that are “ready” to buy your services. Is you return on investment justify by new customers? No matter how much or little you spend, you should have an idea how many new customers came through that campaign.

Some business owners realize a website is essential for their business, but they decide to create their own website. There are many tools these days that help anyone create functional websites, but these tools cannot give you the experience and expertise of a professional web design company. Professional web designers know the latest web design practices and rules and can customize your website for your target audience and your specific needs. You don’t do your own business tax returns, you hire an accountant. An inadequate web design with no target audience in mind can hurt your business reputation more than not having a website at all.

Websites act like a virtual business card. You have a few seconds to engage visitors, if you don’t have a good design and relevant content, they will move on to your competitors’ websites.